Archives for April, 2009

A very small selection of this week’s interesting blog posts: Effect Measure is staying on top of the news of a swine flu outbreak; 16 of 61 apparent flu deaths in Mexico have been confirmed as swine flu, and 8 people in the US have been diagnosed with swine flu and have recovered. Ezra Klein examines some…

by revere, cross-posted from Effect Measure As an academic epidemiologist I routinely do NIH funded research involving human subjects. That means my university must adhere to very strict regulations and guidelines for the protection of research subjects. Approval and monitoring of the ethical conduct of research funded by the Department of Health and Human Services…

Civilian contractors supporting U.S. operations in Iraq and Afghanistan face many of the same dangers as troops do, but the system for providing healthcare when they’re injured is very different. An investigation by the Los Angeles Times and Pro Publica found that the insurance companies responsible for their treatment routinely deny serious medical claims. The…

Next Tuesday (April 28th) is Workers Memorial Day, when people around the world remember workers killed and injured on the job and call for improved workplace safety and health. Here in DC, we’re marking the occasion with a rally in front of the Department of Labor, then a march to the House and Senate hearing…

by revere, cross-posted from Effect Measure There are plenty of tragedies in this story about a plant manager sentenced to almost 6 years in prison for criminal conspiracy, covering up safety violations that killed a fork lift worker, and polluting the Delaware River. Fifty-nine year old John Prisque worked for Atlantic States Cast Iron Pipe…

The first Earth Day was celebrated on April 22, 1970, and it heralded a new era in the US. The New Yorker’s Elizabeth Kolbert explains: Among those who seemed unmoved was President Richard Nixon. He avoided the festivities and made no public comment on them. (One of his aides, John Whitaker, later acknowledged that the…

Our country’s food-safety system may leave a lot to be desired, but the New York Times’ Gardiner Harris reminds us that we should be grateful to the epidemiologists who let us know an outbreak is occurring at all. And it turns out that many of these alarm-sounding professionals work in Minnesota. “If not for the…

We’ve written before about Alexandra Berzon’s fantastic Las Vegas Sun articles on Las Vegas construction deaths, and the paper won the 2009 Roy W. Howard public service reporting award from the Scripps Howard Foundation last month. Now, they’ve also won a Pulitzer in the Public Service category. The Pulitzer site states: Awarded to the Las…

by revere, cross-posted from Effect Measure When a small body of water, say a slow flowing creek or water in a drainage ditch, “goes septic” it starts to stink, often giving off a rotten egg odor (hydrogen sulfide, H2S). This isn’t a sign that the water is polluted in the chemical sense of toxic materials.…

Today’s big news is that EPA has officially determined that greenhouse-gas emissions pose a threat to public health and welfare. Over at Gristmill, Kate Sheppard explains what this all means (and tells you how to submit a public comment), Jonathan Hiskes and rounds up reactions from industry, environmentalists, and politicians. Elsewhere: